Pandemonium in Maharashtra Assembly, house adjourned

Nagpur: The Maharashtra State Legislative
Assembly witnessed pandemonium for the second successive day
on Thursday with the Opposition members disrupting the proceedings,
demanding immediate discussion on crop damage caused by recent
unseasonal rains.

The Lower House was adjourned three times for 30 minutes
each after the Opposition benches demanded suspension of
Question Hour and take up discussion on crop damage along with
disconnection of power supply to farmers who had not paid
their bills.
Opposition Leader Eknath Khadse (BJP) along with Subhash
Desai (Sena), Ganpatrao Deshmukh (PWP)and Bala Nandgaonkar
(MNS) demanded suspension of the Question Hour as soon as the
house proceedings began.

Speaker Dilip Walse Patil informed the house that as per
the decision of the House last year, the Question Hour would
not be suspended. But Opposition parties continued with their
demand.

At this juncture, Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chouhan
brought in his government`s offer to hold full-fledged
discussion on the subject. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar
also made the same offer. He admitted that the compensation
announced last year was not fully paid to the affected farmers
and the arrears would be paid by the end of current financial
year.

Later, the Speaker agreed to suspend the Question Hour,
something that is done very rarely and take up discussion on
farmers` issue.
The Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes and called
group leaders in his chamber to finalise rules under which
discussion could be taken up.

But even after two adjournments of 30 minutes each, the
treasury benches and opposition parties could not decide the
issue.

Opposition parties continued with slogan shouting and
amidst din in the house, the treasury benches rushed to
complete the business before the house. Finally, the Panel
Presiding Officer Dilip Sopal adjourned the house for the
day.